Significant Nutrition Problems Essay Example for Free

Significant Nutrition Problems Essay 1. List 3 significant nutrition problems associated with obesity in young children and adolescents. Cite references.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Three significant nutrition problems associated with childhood and adolescent obesity are hypothyroidism, type II diabetes, and dyslipidemia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Hypothyroidism is the failure of the thyroid to produce thyroid hormones which is caused by certain nutrition problems such as increased cholesterol levels and low serum sodium. Type II diabetes is a condition wherein the body fails to properly utilize insulin due to the increase in glucose. Finally, dyslipidemia is a condition characterized by high blood cholesterol and increased triglycerides mainly due to consumption of foods high in fat (United States National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, 2008). Factors that increase iron deficiency in older adults.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Among older adults, there are several factors that increase the occurrence of iron deficiency. These include the diet, age, and physical condition. Basically as people age, their physical abilities wear down, such as losing their teeth, and they tend to consume less food. As a result, the amount of iron in their body goes down. Another major factor is internal bleeding which is usually caused by tumors and ulcers among old people (KomoTV, 2008). When old people bleed, they lose iron and this eventually leads to iron deficiency. Food and Nutrition Information Center   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Basically, the difference between the food pyramid of old people and the food pyramid of children is that in the former there is more emphasis on the intake of foods that have more fiber and vitamins and less calories such as fruits and vegetables while the latter focuses more on whole grain foods and also fruits and vegetables. I believe that any older adult or child can adhere to the guidelines set by the pyramid because it is basically easy to follow. The only thing that hinders children from following the pyramid is the lack of guidance from parents while in older adults, there is lack of discipline. Otherwise, I believe that any person, no matter how young or old he or she is can follow these guidelines and be able to live a healthy life.   References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). Obesity and Overweight. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/faq.htm. KotoTV.com. (2008). Iron Deficiency. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://ww3.komotv.com/global/story.asp?s=1230142. United States Department of Agriculture. (2008). Dietary Guidance: Food Guide Pyramid. Food and Nutrition Information Center. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4tax_level=2tax_subject=256topic_id=1348. United States National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. (2008). High blood cholesterol and triglycerides. MedlinePlus. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000403.htm. United States National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. (2007). Hypothyroidism. MedlinePlus. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000353.htm. United States National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. (2007). Type 2 diabetes. MedlinePlus. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000313.htm.

Analysis of Gaming Industry Consumers

Analysis of Gaming Industry Consumers Muhammad Zafar   Ã‚   Introduction Online games are played online unlike the traditional pc and consoles games where players play against each other (Hilton 2006). This had a huge impact on games DFC intelligence (2006) estimated that the total online games revenue have grown from $3.4 billion in 2005 to over $13 billion in 2011. There are new media elements for the consumers now use to represent their expressions and communications in the online games some examples are online avatars, accessories of the avatars, decorative stuffs like furniture, background music, skins and fancy weapons used in online games (V. Lehdonvirta 2009). Also people who cant buy expensive car and likes to modify cars and likes to drive modified cars in video games buy games like Gran Turismo, Sega GT, Metropolis Street Racer, or Need for Speed Underground, also people build a virtual dream life in games like The Sims, Habbo Hotel, or Second Life or they even want to enhance their digital lives by buying rare and expensive magical artefacts in games like Morrowind, Everquest, or World of Warcraft to get connected with other players or to show others their digital valuables (Lindstrom, 2001; Nelson, 2002). The combined result is that consumers now relate themselves to digitally simulated consumption experiences. However digital virtual consumption is just materialized substance. Its popularity therefore defies the premises of utility-based explanations of consumer behaviour like a virtual car cannot take you to work; a virtual home does not keep you warm and sheltered (Castronova, 2003). Digital Items Social media is the main source of advertising through Facebook and Twitter. These sites produce high revenue for the companies but to find alternate gaming companies have now started building revenues of selling digital items to their consumers (H.S. Kang, 2003). Consumers now use these new media elements known as digital items to represent, communicate and express themselves with other online members. There are two types of digital items, 2d/3d digital items and musical digital format like songs and music. In this article the focus is on self representation through digital items and aesthetic value. Some of the common examples of digital items are digital avatars, their accessories such as clothes, shoes and hats, decorative skins and items for virtual real life games like furniture, painting, wallpapers and background skins. Usually the prices of digital items are ranges between to a few pennies to a high ranged pound price depending on the item and its value, some limited items a re very high ranged. Consumers use digital items to represent their online users. They normally take an interest in a virtual world by controlling their avatar, a character that speaks to them in the virtual environment (V. Lehdonvirta, 2005). Avatars are usually two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphical figures that represent the consumers online self (S. Webb, 2001). Consumers have more hold over avatars based interactions and can customize their avatar in a wide range of physical features and they are also willing to buy avatar features (Jin, 2009). It also enhances users vivid experiences of participants when they have an active control on the virtual environment through their digital avatars which makes them feel that they are a part of the virtual world with other users (Lehdonvirta et al., 2009; Martin, 2008, Animesh et al., 2011). Social Identity The emotional value of an advanced digital item depends essentially on what it would seem that and the degree to which marketers identify with it and utilize it in their correspondence with the consumers (A.H. Huang, D.C. Yen, X. Zhang, 2008). The two factors which are identifying as emotional value are the aesthetics and the playfulness which connects the consumers to their digital avatar. Consumers buys digital products is depends in a manner that how they view themselves or wishes to be viewed by other members. Aside from their effective utility, items have typical or prominent utilization values. The sorts of computerized things one uses additionally help to characterize the adopters group of friends. For social esteem, it can be recognized into two elements: self-image expression and relationship support. All in all through their fantasies, consumers truly wish into reality the encounters that they therefore expend. The media Games and Culture all in all, including computerized virtual spaces, are themselves subject to showcase mechanisms (Kline, Dyer-Witheford, and de Peuter, 2003). The act of buying a car (in a material sense) is in reality genuine; that is, it is acknowledged and realized in an execution of an earlier stare off into space in the psyche of a consumer. The improvement of the computerized virtual (for instance, a computer game, like World of Warcraft), in any case, may welcome a person to purchase a virtual enchantment staff. Consumers who buy virtual and digitalized items such as a magic staff is indeed real for them when they imagine it, so here we have an instrument for the realization of unique customer fantasy further than what is likely, that is accessible in the material mercantile centre (Proulx and Latzko-Toth, 2000). One of the examples of a game which allows consumers to utilize their fantasies through online platform in a game is The Sims (Consalvo, 2003). In the Sims is a game in which the user simulates a virtual life. First they create a Sims likely known as digital avatar and then they choose types of clothing and lifestyle for it and later build a house and make family. Then there is Grand theft Auto in which users who are more towards violence and American criminal lifestyle in this game user first create a character in multiplayer mode and then progress through missions and other multiplayer jobs with your online friends it is an open world game which itself is a reflection of social drama. Self-representation desire may, thusly, be improved by individual control as a persons certainty about his or her capacity, i.e., self-adequacy, to show a favoured image (Dà ¶ring 2002). The impact of online introduction self-adequacy on the desire for online self-representation can be clarified by s ocial subjective hypothesis (Bandura, 2001). It places that human conduct is persistently and widely self-managed. Online Community An online group comprises of (1) individuals, who cooperate with each other in the group; (2) reason, to give motivation to clients to take part in groups; (3) approaches, to make guidelines, conventions, and laws to guide clients conduct; and (4) PC frameworks, to bolster and intercede social association and encourage a feeling of fellowship   (Preece, 2000). An online games community is characterized as a gathering of users who cooperate with each other by means of Internet, they create a fantasy role and build up an online relationship among users, share regular interests, and enjoy their requirement for excitement by assuming their own particular virtual parts (Hsu and Lu, 2007 and Teng, in press). Origin in Asia, for instance, is a hot web based amusement that permits users to accept a virtual part to join daring exercises on the internet. In the Lineage people group, users frequently create strong attachment and endeavour to accomplish shared objectives, including overco ming a foe nation. When a player and their team mates gets a powerful item or a high skill, the players then interact with the opponent team and the opponents responds with a counter attack or runs away, these kinds of interactions have been found to have a ample impact on the success of online games since an arrangement of a more than a few successions of collaboration is in actuality an account, which can be utilized to build a play interest (Choi Kim, 2004). From the consumer view of perspective through practical observations the psychological feeling of being there and benefit instruments, for example, reasonableness, security and motivating force are exceptionally critical concerns (Chen and Yen, 2004). Motivation If a user will be extremely submerged in a virtual diversion group (understanding stream) on the off chance that he or she have accomplished coordinating aptitudes (like propelled weapons) against high players. In particular, high character skill (low test) will shrink a players desire to additionally accomplish even progressed virtual things as his or her characters general capability will as of now be better than that of others, and the other way around. Furthermore, with the expansion in the general skill of the characters possessed by a player, he or she may like to challenge propelled PC controlled players for picking up an incredible feeling of accomplishment (Kim, Oh and Lee, 2005). By this behaviour consumers are more anticipated in buying more digital items to progress further more in the game and also its an achievement for them to show other users that how far the progressed. Players with inherent inspiration may see more fun under the high vulnerability condition that makes them to feel more excitement. Then again, outwardly persuaded players may see less exchange cost when exchanging the thing with high resource specificity. Ordinarily, individuals see more exchange cost when the high resource specificity condition is given in the exchange in light of the confinement of the advantage (O. E. Williamson, 1991). Digital games also motivate players to learn new stuff about the world and culture it helps them to grow more knowledge of skills (Dickey, 2006). It is also been discussed before that digital games helps a user to develop problem solving skills (Annetta, 2008). Furthermore, motivation starts to conduct and decides its course and power. Along these lines, the desire for online self-representation fills in as an inspiration that prompts to practices, for example, the buying of digital items that empower online self-representation (Van der Heijden 200 4). Motivation likewise decides asset designation for various practices. Based on their desire for online self-representation, individuals may allocate assets toward the buying of digital items for self-representation and expend exertion toward this objective (Latham and Pinder 2005). Negations While there are positive effects of online gaming and digital world there are also some negative effects also which are due to the genre of a game like if a game is genre is violence this can relate to an aggressive outcome for the user (Anderson Bushman, 2001). Although online games recreations frequently contain comparable demonstrations of violence, recent narrative confirmation has proposed another negative behavioural impact that these games may represent that of addiction (Jansz, 2005). In 2005 The Washington Post reports that 10 people died in Korea as a result of extreme game play, also a person who was found dead in an internet cafe after continuously playing 50 hours taking very few breaks (Khazan, 2006). An individuals identity is a moderately stable antecedent of conduct in a miniaturized scale level, as it shows a persisting style of ones way of thinking, feeling, and acting in various circumstances (Stevens, 2003). Ritualized media utilize was associated with impression of imminence to the medium and convenience, substantial media users will probably proceed with their media utilize paying little reverence to the content (Huh 2004). Online game addiction is known as process addiction which is a specific type of addiction defined as behaviour enslavement which is similar to obsessive gambling and shopping. Users who are addicted play online games to form social relationship as they do to progress through the ladder, virtual relationships is more desirable to them rather than face to face interactions thats why they have their own virtual world in which their fictional digital avatar or character is real for them and they represent that as themselves to other users (Yee, 2006). Conclusion So the conclusion is that how marketers make consumers relate to games avatars and buy digital items from their real money which are the in game avatars clothing and accessories   to make it look good and show it to other users. Some of the games like Counter Strike and other combat multiplayer games have skins for the guns and knives which are bought from the real money. People now live in a digital world where they want to show themselves to others which they cant do in real life and have less confidence to even talk and socialize with others. So the developers and the marketers of the games have brought them digitized virtual reality world where they can socialize with confidence. This is a consumer behaviour theory that marketers provide consumers a game in which they can do what they imagine to do in the real world but could not do it, this is also knows as aesthetic drama. But for the consumers this all real for them the imagination and fantasy is real thats what motivates them to buy digital items in games. Self motivation is the thing which the marketers target a person because in games if a user is winning a lot of games against stronger opponents and getting higher ranked achievements through games it self-motivates them to buy in game items like background music, wallpapers, skins, digital avatar accessories and other items related to the game. This whole essay is about self-representation through a consumers view of mind and their perspective that how a game can be real to them and connects mentally and emotionally to them and how marketers motivates their desires to play more and be involve more in buying in games items and materials which encourages them to progress further. From theories and research its been proved that online gaming is on a rise and now its more advance through mobile phone games and other portable consoles and there is a major increase in online gamers who are playing online games with other players and take it is a challenge. This is the kind of motivation marketers look forward for. References Yee, N. (2006). Motivations for play in online games. CyberPsychology behavior, 9(6), 772-775. Kim, H. W., Gupta, S., Koh, J. (2011). Investigating the intention to purchase digital items in social networking communities: A customer value perspective. Information Management, 48(6), 228-234. Molesworth, M., Denegri-Knott, J. (2007). Digital play and the actualization of the consumer imagination. Games and Culture, 2(2), 114-133. Huang, E. (2012). Online experiences and virtual goods purchase intention. Internet Research, 22(3), 252-274. Hsu, C. L., Lu, H. P. (2007). Consumer behavior in online game communities: A motivational factor perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1642-1659. Lee, M. C., Tsai, T. R. (2010). What drives people to continue to play online games? An extension of technology model and theory of planned behavior. Intl. journal of human-computer interaction, 26(6), 601-620. Wu, J. H., Wang, S. C., Tsai, H. H. (2010). Falling in love with online games: The uses and gratifications perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1862-1871. Guo, Y., Barnes, S. (2007). Why people buy virtual items in virtual worlds with real money. ACM Sigmis Database, 38(4), 69-76. Choi, B., Lee, I., Lee, K., Jung, S., Park, S., Kim, J. (2007, January). The effects of users motivation on their perception to trading systems of digital content accessories: Focusing on trading items in online games. In System Sciences, 2007. HICSS 2007. 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 161-161). IEEE. Yang, Y. T. C. (2012). Building virtual cities, inspiring intelligent citizens: Digital games for developing students problem solving and learning motivation. Computers Education, 59(2), 365-377. Kim, H. W., Chan, H. C., Kankanhalli, A. (2012). What motivates people to purchase digital items on virtual community websites? The desire for online self-presentation. Information systems research, 23(4), 1232-1245. Huh, S., Bowman, N. D. (2008). Perception and addiction of online games as a function of personality traits. Journal of Media Psychology, 13(2), 1-31.

College Sports - Universities Must Compensate Student Athletes :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Colleges and Universities Must Compensate Student Athletes Today, sports are no longer fun and games, sports are a business, and college sports are no different. College sports provide a huge source of universities’ income. The school takes in money from ticket sales, television contracts, and sport-related merchandise, just to name a few. The athletes, however, receive their scholarship and little more. While the prospect of receiving a free college education is something few would complain about, when the issue is more closely examined it becomes evident that it is not enough. The universities are exploiting athletes, and recently the problems that this creates have become more prominent. More and more athletes are now leaving school early to enter the professional leagues and make money. There have also been more reports of violations surrounding university boosters and alumni paying players. Furthermore, athletes have been accused of making deals with gamblers and altering the outcome of games. All of these problems could be minim ized, if not completely eliminated, by adopting a program for compensating student athletes. College athletes are exploited by their schools, which make millions of dollars off of them. This leads to violations, students leaving college early, and student-athletes that cannot even afford to do their laundry. The NCAA and professional leagues can work together to institute a plan to compensate these athletes and remedy all these problems. Student athletes need money just like any other college students, and many of them need it even more. According to Steve Wulf, many college athletes come from disadvantaged backgrounds (94). This means that while the free tuition is nice, they are still going to need money for other expenses that every college student faces. The NCAA finally realized this recently and decided to allow athletes to have a job earning up to $2000 during the school year (Greenlee 63). This, while well intended, is an impossibility for many, if not the majority of college athletes. As Greenlee states, "The hours athletes would spend working at a job are already spoken for" (63). The sport they play is their job; it takes up as much time (likely more) as the normal student’s job at the cafeteria or student center, yet they do not get paid. The schools have to make up for this by finding some way to compensate these athletes. The main reason behind not giving college athletes some form of compensation is that college athletes must be amateurs and if they are paid they will lose their status as amateurs.

The Two Willy Lomans in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Essay

The Two Willy Lomans in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman    There are two Willy Lomans in The Death of a Salesman. There is the present broken, exhausted man in his sixties, soon to end his life. And there is the more confident, vigorous Willy of some fifteen years before, who appears in the flashbacks. One actor portrays both, readily shifting from one representation to the other. To some extent, of course, the personality remains constant. The younger Willy, although given to boastful blustering, does admit misgivings to Linda and loneliness to Biff. And the shattered older man, in turn, occasionally reverts to his former manner of jaunty optimism. Yet the changes are great and significant. The earlier Willy could never have been the idol of his teen-aged sons had he behaved in the perverse, distracted fashion of his older self. Willy's agitation during his last days stems from a twofold sense of failure. He has not been able to launch successfully in the world his beloved son Biff, and he no longer can meet the demands of his own selling job. Although not altogether ignoring Linda and Happy, he is primarily concerned about the once magnificent young football star who at thirty-four drifts from one temporary ranch job to the next. Willy cannot "walk away" from Biff'sproblem, as Bernard suggests, nor can he accept Linda's view that "life is a casting off." Being over sixty, Willy is doubtless tiring physically. The sample cases are heavy. The seven-hundred-mile drives are arduous. And many business contacts, developed over the years, are vanishing as the men of his era die or retire. Yet the worry over Biff has obviously accelerated his collapse. Actually, Willy's attitude toward Biff is complex. On the one hand, t... ...ledge. But Happy is still determined to "beat this racket"and come out "number one man." On the day of the big game, Charley ruefully asks Willy when he is going to grow up. In some ways Willy never does. His boyish enthusiasm is, of course, part of his appeal. But his persistent refusal to face facts squarely drives him at last to a violent death. Ironically, his suicide, to him the ultimate in magnificent gestures, merely leaves Linda woefully bereft and Biff more than ever sure that "he had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong." Works Cited Eisinger, Chester E. "Focus on Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman': The Wrong Dreams," in American Dreams, American Nightmares, (1970 rpt In clc. Detroit: Gale Research. 1976 vol. 6:331 Gordon, Lois "Death of a Salesman": An Appreciation, in the Forties: 1969) rpt in clc. Detroit: Gale Research. 1983 vol. 26:323   

Human Rights Essay -- American Politics, Government Bill

Human rights refer to the natural or basic rights and freedoms to which all people are entitled to. Traditionally, the rights and freedoms of citizens were protected by an Act of Parliament or by the judges in developing the common law. Prior to World War II, the convention for the protection of human right and freedom was drafted in 1950s by the Council of Europe. It was drafted because of disgust with fascism and an anxiety to protect basic freedom. On 1953, it has developed to become an international treaty, which all 47 countries of the continent of Europe are bound by the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950, also known as ECHR. United Kingdom (UK) was one of the first countries to sign the Convention in November 1950. Although it entered into force in the UK on 3rd Sept 1953, UK chose not to incorporate its terms into domestic law. Therefore UK was only bound to ECHR on the matter of international law and not within the domestic legal system. During 1960s, there are few parties concerned had campaigned for the enactment for Human Rights Act in UK. These parties are the commentators and public interest groups. However, due to several criticisms and the reluctant of UK government to pass such legislation, the HRA did not enact until 1998. Though the convention did not incorporate into domestic law, UK did recognize the authority of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to hear and adjudicate complaints from UK citizens. In 1997, the newly elected Labour Government promised to introduce a human right bill to Parliament. As a result, The Human Right Act 1998 received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998 and came into full effect in the UK on 2nd Oct 2000. For the past 20 years or so, UK governments ha... ...om of expression of a political party contravenes racial discrimination or the right to life of a foetus overrides the mother’s right and liberty. Some would argue that question which concern with political should not be answered by the judiciary but the politician. Otherwise, the judiciary will become politicized. Some academic argued that merely granting rights does not necessary means individual freedom and empowerments are secure. The right granted must supported by economic and social provision. Imbalance in power in society means that the powerful can take advantages on those who are less powerful. For example, equal payment of women in work may results the employers to recruit more of the male workers. Therefore, it might be that Britain Bill of rights is not as powerful as Human Rights Act 1998 to protect the individual freedom and rights. In summary,

Companies that gives importance to their employees

Companies that gives importance to their employees BY 2141361 Companies that gives importance and value to its employee. Boston Consulting Group BCG invests â€Å"100-plus hours and thousands of dollars to recruit each consultant,† says the company's site, and it also claims to pay 100 percent of its employees' health care premiums. â€Å"Attracting top talent and maintaining an environment in which employees can rapidly develop have been key to our success and our ability to deliver enormous value to clients.Recognitions like this are a nice acknowledgment that our efforts are highly unusual and, based on our growth and client retention, ffective,† says Rich Lesser, BCG's chairman of North and South America. SAS Institute SAS has ranked in Fortune's Top 100 for 14 consecutive years, according to the company's web site. The company says that â€Å"if you treat employees as if they make a difference, they will make a difference. SAS employee rewards includes subsidized Montessori child care, unlimited sick days, a free health care center, and intramural sports teams. CEO Jim Goodnight says that â€Å"[we create] a culture that rewards innovation, encourages employees to try new things and yet doesn't penalize them or taking chances, and a culture that cares about employees' personal and professional growth. † Zappos. com Zappos accomplishes a mix of both â€Å"traditional† ways of showing employee appreciation, like company picnics and holiday parties, as well as more unique ways.Last year they held the Zfrog awards, which let employees pitch their own business ideas, â€Å"laughter yoga† classes, Tank Top Tuesday, and recognizing employees in different departments, such as Merchandiser of the Quarter. â€Å"l love working at Zappos; the creativity and fun we have here are unparalleled, at least by any other ob I've ever had. There are all sorts of people here: young and old; shy and extremely outgoing; ‘normal' andâ₠¬ ¦ weird. I love that Zappos embraces people of all cultures, styles, and personalities,† says one Zappos employee.DreamWorks Animation According to DreamWorks' careers site, â€Å"the work community is enriched with many special events including movie screenings, art and short film festivals, artistic development classes, and family get-togethers. † â€Å"We are committed to fostering a culture that embraces innovation, creativity, collaboration, and a solid dose of fun. † Throughout the year, the company offers its employees art shows, craft fairs, movie screenings, art classes and lectures.CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg communicates daily with his employees through blog posts and his staff appreciates â€Å"the transparency between the employees and the CEO,† says Dina Strada, Manager of Employee Events and Communications. Hasbro, Inc. On its web site, Hasbro writes: â€Å"We value our employees and understand that our success would not be possible without al l their hard work, dedication, and passion. † Hasbro employees have access to the company's fitness centers, half-day Fridays, rograms.Hasbro also makes sure to remember employees' children by participating in Kids Carnival, Santa Breakfast, and Bring Your Son/Daughter to Work Day. S. C. Johnson At the family company S. C. Johnson, 12,000 employees have access to a concierge service that will see to it that their chores get done. This ranges from returning overdue library books to making sure your dry cleaning gets picked up on time. â€Å"To make the best products for your family, we need the best people in our company family,† according to the company website. Also available are childcare for parent employees, and paid sabbaticals.

The Rise of Social Media

â€Å"Man is a social animal†, goes the popular adage. Interaction with fellow beings is a vital part of being human. Community makes us feel complete through exchange of ideas and knowledge. It is therefore not surprising that we constantly try to find better and faster means of communication and information sharing. Our relentless efforts in these areas have led to a phenomenon whose far reaching impacts make it nothing short of a global revolution. That phenomenon is the rise of Social Media.If the internet gave birth to a revolution in the way we stored and sought information, then social media has brought about a revolution in the way we exchange and use information. â€Å"Social Media† is a term that is relatively young of age. It’s definition on â€Å"Wikipedia†, which ironically is also one of its most glorious examples, reads – â€Å"media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques†.Examples of social media include weblogs, social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space, information sharing platforms such as Wikipedia or Twitter, and media sharing platforms such as YouTube. Before the explosion of social media, dissemination of information on a large scale was majorly restricted to â€Å"mass media† such as internet websites, newspapers, television and radio. Broadcasting information using these channels required at least some level of technical or professional expertise.Over the past few years however, development of web technologies that simplify mass collaboration has revolutionised the way content is produced and shared. Now anyone with a computer (or a mobile phone) and internet access has the ability to almost effortlessly share information across the globe and make their views heard, right from their homes, without the need to have significant resources or technical skills at their disposal. The rise of social m edia has had a tremendous influence on the way I and billions around the world think, communicate, learn and behave as we take on different roles during a normal day.Some of those roles being â€Å"the social animal† , â€Å"the global citizen†, â€Å"the consumer†, â€Å"the student†, â€Å"the activist†, â€Å"the professional† and â€Å"the common man†. Me the social animal Looking back though, a lot of the social media platforms didn’t exactly start off doing what they do today. Sites such as Facebook or MySpace started off with a simple objective of allowing people to keep in touch with near and dear ones. My first experience with such a medium was through a networking site called â€Å"Hi5†, as a means to keep in touch with friends.Twitter started off as a simple web equivalent of text messaging. In those nascent stages these platforms allowed people to socialise and to be entertained, hence serving the social anim al in all of us. However, radical changes in these mediums over the last few years have forever changed my perception of their usage and potential. Me, the global citizen Perhaps the most significant change these platforms have enabled is to level the playing field. No longer do I need to be a media celebrity or a seasoned journalist to make my views heard.Mediums such as blogs and twitter give everyone a chance to stand up and be counted. What this has done is to make the world of information sharing truly democratic. The impact of this development has made those in high up places acknowledge the power these mediums hold. When US president Barack Obama was inaugurated into presidency in January 2009, CNN and the Whitehouse collaborated on Facebook to stream the broadcast to a worldwide audience. I remember getting the Goosebumps while watching the stream that generated 600,000 messages.All those messages flashing endlessly on my screen brought about the feeling that I was a part of a global debate. The Obama administration extensively used twitter to reach out to people all around the world. What this has done is to change my perception of how election campaigns or political debates can be carried out. Over time I feel more and more leaders worldwide will need to embrace such mediums if they really wish to have a global outreach. Me the activist Social media has also changed the way we can promote social causes.A great example of this is of â€Å"Earthour. org† in 2009, when Facebook and YouTube were extensively used to co-ordinate a worldwide movement that encouraged people to turn off their electrical appliances for one hour to promote awareness about climate change. This remarkable concept managed to mobilize people from more than 4000 cities all around the world. The event which enabled people in any part of the world to come together and be a part of a global cause has radically changed my view of how global movements can be initiated.All one has to do is to choose a cause and they will have multiple mediums at their disposal to spread the message. Me the consumer In the commercial space, Social media marketing has grown leaps and bounds. Dell attributed $6. 5 million worth of sales to twitter in 2009. What has made corporations adopt such mediums so readily is the opportunity to reach directly to me, their consumer. What’s significant is that now instead of being a spectator; I can also provide my feedback, suggestions or grievances about a product directly to the people that make it, instantly.Not only does this empower me as a consumer, it also provides corporations a very effective medium of targeting the right demographic and audience, optimising their production and efficiency in the process. Me the student Since its very inception, Social Media has held tremendous potential in knowledge sharing. As the world gets smaller and smaller, more and more students look to study in universities across the globe. This ma kes it critical that the institution reaches out to me, the student; to provide the right information at the right time.Going beyond the normal website, phone and email, more and more institutions are establishing an online presence on sites such as Facebook that allow them to reach out to a highly active and driven audience. Taking Oxford itself as an example, Said Business School’s Facebook page allows potential students to directly interact with representatives from the institution and also see what other students have already discussed. Not only does this simplify communication, it also reduces overheads of redundant emails or phone calls. Social media also provides a global platform for talented individuals to share their skills and knowledge.A great example of this is YouTube. I had always had a keen interest in learning to play the guitar. However, a hectic work schedule and high costs of a private teacher meant that private schedule bound lessons were not a viable opt ion. Instead, I started using the numerous video lessons available on YouTube put up by talented musicians with a view to sharing passions. This is nothing short of a learning revolution as it gives anyone the chance to take lessons on anything from cooking to advanced maths free of cost, at a time and place that suits them the best, with option to play and pause as much as they like.Me the Professional Professionally, social media has had a tremendous impact on the way I work. A few years back when Wikipedia came up, I and a few colleagues were hugely impressed with how it took collaboration to a whole new level. Inspired by the concept, we started experimenting with our own internal Wiki-based organisation wide information sharing platform that would promote collaboration between employees across different teams.Upon its completion, it provided an easy to use medium for our associates to share, discuss and collaborate on topics ranging from technical concepts to HR processes to id eas for the next cultural event. Social media avenues such as blogs are also changing the way that managements communicate with their employees. In a lot of organisations including mine, more and more managers have started maintaining blogs where they share their views on a variety of professional and non-professional topics. I feel it’s a fantastic way of really reaching out to your employees.It is more effective and personal than the general â€Å"CEO’s message† emails that otherwise get churned out. By getting instant feedback on their blogs from enthusiastic employees, leaders can quickly feel the pulse of the organisation and use that knowledge to make better decisions. Me the common man If there is one aspect of social media that has influenced me the most in recent times, then it has to be its effectiveness in ensuring a lightning fast flow of information in times of national calamities, unfortunate incidents such as terror attacks or political unrest.Rec ently, platforms such as twitter have been critical in ensuring an immediate spread of information across the globe. When the unfortunate terror attacks took place in Mumbai in November 2008, frantic phone calls from anxious friends and family members to the city from had started saturating the cell phone networks, unable to reach my friends, I was reassured of their safety through their twitter updates. At the time, even news agencies were following twitter updates from citizens to get a view of the ground level reality.Over time, we have seen such micro-blogging mediums play an ever increasing role as reliable mediums of breaking news. This development has revolutionised my perception of journalism. In essence, it allows the common man to become a reporter and provide his own perception of the latest breaking news to entire world. Two sides to a coin My Strong beliefs on the significance of social media however do not imply that I do not acknowledge the shortcomings of the social media revolution. There are two sides to a coin.Some of the factors that make social media great also lead to some of its shortcomings. The widespread and free availability of social media often lead to an overload of content. Such high volumes mean that finding relevant and useful content often becomes a challenge. I believe that there need to be more efficient filtering mechanisms developed to enable faster sourcing of content that’s relevant. The anonymity that the internet provides to everyone makes social media platforms vulnerable to misuse. Examples of dubious elements harming naive web users are widespread.There is a need to promote a more educated use of such mediums and to establish more stringent controls to help counter such misdoings. Social media has often also been criticised for the work/life balance that it tends to disrupt or the productivity concerns it raises when people use social networking sites at work. Spending too much time online cuts one off from r eal life and defeats the very objective of collaboration. I feel this is more down to the individual, and as is true of everything in life, a balance needs to be maintained. Tip of the IcebergTo conclude, I feel what I’ve seen so far is only beginning and social media is only going to keep bringing about radical changes to what I perceive to be the definitive ways of information sharing and communication. Social media has proven itself to be a very powerful tool of empowering the individual to become a part of a global community. My beliefs in the potential of social media have only strengthened over time and I feel that the constant developments in this field will ensure that the way we communicate, educate, collaborate and trade will never be the same again.